Control Room Orientation

Is there any prohibitive disadvantage to placing speakers on the wide or narrow end of a (this) control room with angled walls? Please see the attached image (which shows no doors or window on the double wall separating the control room and recording spaces, as it soon to be framed).

Greetings! Looks like that'll be a nice space, but you'll need a bunch of absorption- the exterior walls look like concrete or CMU, which will be great for keeping noise out. The best spot to put them is on the narrow end. The idea being that the sound bouncing off the walls will tend to head for the back of the room, behind you. There you put as much absorption as you can. If you angle the ceiling, the same theory comes into play- low end should be over the speakers and listening position. Good luck! Kase www.minemusic.net

Folks, > Is there any prohibitive disadvantage to placing speakers on the wide or narrow end < I'm bumping this up to the top because I too would like to know the answer. When side walls are angled only a little, as Jay intends, the angle is not enough to deflect early reflections away from the mix position. So what Jay and I would both like to know is other than deflecting early reflections is there any other reason a room should flare outward toward the rear rather than the other way around? --Ethan

When side walls are angled only a little, as Jay intends, the angle is not enough to deflect early reflections away from the mix position.

well it is enough in fact. you must remember that it's the top end we are talking about and in most speakers systems this is directional - i.e. a 30 degree splay. If you follow the line from a 30 degree splay - i.e. 15 degrees either side of axis you will note that it does in fact reflect the main signal behind you. By reversing the room this factor is defeated IMO. cheers JOhn

John, > 15 degrees either side of axis you will note that it does in fact reflect the main signal behind you. < Great. Thanks very much for clarifying this. --Ethan

Could you try something like this Jay? cheers john

1. Thanks for taking an interest, John. 2. Your suggestion is exactly my plan "C." 3. Nevertheless, I had been dismissing Plan C because of a) Traffic through the isolation booth. b) Minimal vertical corners for bass traps in the CR I'll give this some serious thought. I'm assuming that rear wall absorption and bass trapping is establishing a RFZ. 4. Thanks to ALL of you participating in John's forums.

This is a question I had as well, How should the control room walls be angled, obviously narrower towards the front, but what are some minimum degrees? Was 15 degrees the answer? If we imagine a rectangle and the long sides are angled in deviating from 90 degrees should the resulting angles be 75 degrees or less. Thanks carl

Carl, that's a heavily debated subject. Most of the folks around here agree on a 12 degree difference between the sidewalls to eliminate flutter echoes, so angling each wall 6 degrees off will be sufficient for that. That applies mostly to tracking rooms, tho. For control rooms, the splayed sidewalls are meant to push sound to the back of the room to be absorbed by something behind you. There, 15 degrees is the target. Kase www.minemusic.net

thanks dymaxian, So, it's 7.5 degrees, or greater, for each wall. Correct? Well, then what is too much? Oh another question, at what depth does one concern themself with making the rear wall reflective? I have a 20x30 foot garage that I am thinking of making into a mix room. I am a newbie at studio design so forgive me if I am veering from the original post I just finally discovered a place to get answers to all my questions!! Great site!! thanks carl

So, it's 7.5 degrees, or greater, for each wall. Correct?

Nope. 15 degrees per wall, for a 30 degree total splay, according to John's post earlier in the thread. That is for RFZ design as much as anything else. If you have the space/layout available for that, great, but if not, do what you can. Even just eliminating flutter echoes will make a difference. The other thing you can do is build side-wall panels as shown on the Wall Units page- those will push reflections to the back wall where they can be absorbed. Having the rear wall reflective is tricky. Are you going to be tracking drums near that wall? That's one of the only reasons I'd think you'd want it to not be absorbtive... Steve (knightfly) posted a particular distance for first reflections, but I forget what it is... anyway, if sound can reflect off the back wall and make it to your ears within a certain distance, it'll cause comb filtering. I think it's close to 30ft, but even then I'd be cautious with it. You can either build the switchable wall panels on the SAE site (which will swing open or shut to change reflective to absorptive) or just put up bare plywood gobos when you're tracking in there, and take 'em down when you mix. Kase www.minemusic.net

Initially the 20x30 space would be just the control room, no trakcking in there, just a mix room. Eventually I plan to flank the space with tracking rooms, but that is later. I am planning on tracking elsewhere for the time being. I meant to say rear wall diffusion, not relfectivity, i.e., RPG style diffusors. Dymaxiam, does this change your post at all. Not that I'm debating deadening the rearwall, it's just that most control rooms I've been in and seen have had diffusion in the rear wall. Will do a search for early reflections. Thanks for the replies dymaxiam. later, carl

I've seen about half and half of each. Dealer's choice, really. Or you could do both. Have a look at this thing- someone posted this at recording.org... http://melhuish.org/audio/DIYOT3.html I speculated in that thread that you could make the curvy panels like this, and then between them you could put small sections of 1x2 or 2x2 every 4' or so, making sort of a grill, and set that in front of absorbers. It'd take up a lot of wall space, and requires more skill at woodwork than I have, but the end result would look pretty cool. But yeah. The only thing about diffusion is the distance from your listening position. If you're talking about a 20'x30' room, you'll be about 10' from the side walls and farther from the rear wall, so you've got plenty of space. Kase www.minemusic.net